Bad Weather Forces Maple Syrup Crop to a Record Low

By HAROLD FABER,

Published: June 17, 1993

ALBANY, June 16—
Maple syrup production in New York fell to a record low this year because of bad weather, the State Agricultural Statistics Service has reported .

For consumers, that may mean higher prices later this year, but several farmers said the shortage would probably be overcome by imports from Canada, which has a large surplus from last year.

The state's 1,300 maple syrup farmers produced 180,000 gallons, down 55 percent from last year and far below the previous low, 225,000 gallons, produced in both 1973 and 1987, the agricultural service said Monday. It was the smallest crop since the service began keeping records in 1916.

The reason, it said, was that the maple season was "too cold at the beginning and too warm at the end."

For maple sap to flow, the weather should be warm by day and cold at night. This year those conditions prevailed for only 20 days, from March 20 to April 9, instead of an average of 33 days over the years. U.S. Production Down as Well

In addition, the service said, "Deep snow throughout the season made tapping and gathering extremely difficult and discouraged tapping on the part of many producers."

The same conditions prevailed in Vermont, the nation's largest producer of maple syrup. Production there dropped to 310,000 gallons, down 46 percent from 1992.

New York, the second-leading maple syrup state, and Vermont produce about half of the nation's crop. Maple syrup production for the United States totaled 1.01 million gallons this year, down 43 percent from last year, the service said.

For producers in New York, the smaller crop meant a cut in gross farm income from maple syrup of more than 50 percent, the service said. It placed the farm value of the 1993 crop in New York at $4.16 million, down from $9.36 million last year.

So far this year, the price of syrup at rural retail outlets has not changed. At farm stands, the price is between $32 and $35 a gallon and $10 and $12 a quart, the same as last year.